First Edition Points and Criteria for Freedom

The true first edition is the American edition with "First edition, 2010" on the copyright page, with full number line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" and ISBN 978-0-374-15846-0. Boards are black paper with silver lettering. Dust Jacket has 7 reviews - by Joanna Smith Rakof, David Kipen, Francine O. Prose, Karen Heller, Laura Miller, Blake Morrison, and David Gates.

Also worth mentioning is a signed first edition of Freedom that was shipped in a dark green slipcase designed for the Indiespensable Series at Powell's Books. It is not clear whether the slipcase was provided by the publisher, or whether this was simply an after-market add-on. The book itself looks like every other first edition copy.

Caution: The Oprah's Book Club edition looks identical to the first edition with the exceptions of the Oprah logo on the front of the dust jacket, and a different ISBN (978-0-312-60084-6) on the dust jacket back and inside the book on the copyright page. Otherwise, the Oprah edition has the same boards, the same full number line on the copyright page, the same $28.00 price on the dust jacket flap, and the same reviews on the back of the dust jacket.

Also noteworthy is the UK edition. Normally a UK first edition of a U.S. book is not particularly collectible. But because of a typesetting error, an earlier version of the author's manuscript was published in the UK by mistake, and consequently most of the first printing batch was recalled and pulped. By some estimates, there might be less than 9,000 of this edition in existence. 2,000 of these copies have an extra tipped in page with the author's signature over the statement "One of 2000 signed first editions".

It is unclear so far whether the corrected edition was issued as the second printing. Until we know for sure, you can identify the uncorrected UK edition by looking for the phrases "when they were standing in a lobby at intermission" on the last two lines of page 77, and "sensing her coded reproach here: selfishness" on page 266, line 11.

Picture of the 2010 first edition dust jacket for Freedom.

Picture of the first edition copyright page for Freedom.

Picture of dust jacket where original $28.00 price is found for Freedom.

Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of Freedom.

Picture of the first edition Farrar, Straus and Giroux boards for Freedom.

Picture of the back dust jacket flap for the first edition of Freedom.

Picture of the first edition title page for Freedom.

This is a signed first edition of Freedom offered by the Indiespensable Series at Powell's Books. It was shipped in a specially designed dark green slipcase. The slipcase seems to be the only distinguishing feature between these books and other signed first editions.

On the left is the true first edition copyright page with the correct ISBN. On the right is the Oprah's Book Club copyright page with a different ISBN.

Quick Search:

Search for other books in the FedPo database:

Book:

Market Value:

Use the pre-filled links below to find the market value of Freedom. Remember that the dust jacket is an important part of any book, and so books without their original dust jackets typically have less value.

Book:

Author:

Title:

Keywords:

Search by author:

by Title:

by Keyword or ISBN:

Popular on FEdPo:

Disclaimer: This website is intended to help guide you and give you insight into what to look for when identifying first editions. The information is compiled from the experience of reputable collectors and dealers in the industry. Gathering and updating information about these books is more an art than a science, and new identication criteria and points of issue are sometimes discovered that may contradict currently accepted identification points. This means that the information presented here may not always be 100% accurate.